I think understand that the concept of a pointy thing on a long stick is universal, hence spears, but how did almost every culture, even isolated ones, think to develop bows and arrows? We see these from Europe to Africa to Asia to the Americas and even the Sentinelese, so what gives?
In: Technology
I think of it a bit like this. If you want to propel an object of some sort at a target, but you don’t have access to mechanical tools, engineering, explosives or some other form of craftsmanship you are left with very few options.
So on one hand yes every culture developed bows, but then also many other novel solutions to this issue. Slings are fairly ubiquitous but then also novel solutions. Blow darts, boomerangs, bolas (boli?), throwing sticks of various types and a whole variety of other interesting solutions.
Latest Answers